When we talk about making cities sustainable, bike lanes and rooftop gardens get mentioned more often than better trash cans. But in our downtowns, sanitation trucks make near-constant trips to collect garbage from unsightly, overflowing containersóadding to pollution and traffic.

Creating new products from waste materials or used items has three distinct benefits for manufacturers: it gives them access to free or inexpensive materials, it lends their products an aura of sustainability, and it provides stories that sellers can share with the consumers. here are some examples of upcycling recently spotted:

Following in the footsteps of programs like RecycleBank, which capitalized on the idea that people are generally more interested when a prize or other reward is offered, the Dunkin' Donuts Center in Providence, Rhode Island recently implemented recycling machines to encourage event attendees to think before they trash.

Donít toss reusable stuff into the trash. Donating or selling used items in good condition helps those in need, provides a source of revenue for charitable organizations or yourself, and may even give you a tax deduction. Purchasing used goods can also save you some money.

Re-purposing objects, recycled and/or found, can be a tricky business. Making objects that are as aesthetically appealing and functional as the aforementioned Hangelier isnít simply a matter of gleaning trash from laneways. Waste is the most abundant local resource our cities have to offer. Often free or inexpensive, waste is a seemingly endless supply, always providing new and exciting design possibilities.

Traditional outdoor and athletic apparel is made from virgin, non-renewable materials, contains questionable chemical treatments, and usually finds its ultimate home in a landfill. This Sports apparel is a huge industry worth billions and is dominated by a few giant brands.

As one of Tel Avivís most thought-provoking new companies, Junktion is a young, edgy and innovative design studio, is breathing new life into the trash the city has cast aside. The company began in 2008 and has made their presence know in the contemporary furniture market with their unique approach to function and unwavering conviction to challenge how people regard junk.

One item touches every article of clothing and is touched by every customer. Itís the ubiquitous, invisible clothing hanger. Itís so prevalent, so insignificant that no one sees it, no one thinks about it, no one cares about what happens to it when it gets thrown into the box under the counter after a sale.
Where do all those thousands upon thousands of hangers go at the end of the day? Alarmingly the vast majority end up in landfills via the storeís dumpster. How many hangers are we talking about? The landfilled waste they create world-wide would fill 4.6 Empire State Buildings each and every year. The annually trashed 8 billion invisible plastic and metal hangers entering out municipal waste stream are now becoming a very dire issue.

Traditionally made shoes can have a high environmental cost. Not only do they consume a lot of virgin materials, which use many resources to grow and manufacture but they are also difficult to recycle. A pair of athletic shoes tossed into the landfill may linger for up to 1,000 years before breaking down, so recycling them makes really good sense. Recycling sneakers might sound a little weird, but it wasn't so long ago that throwing them to the trash was only thing to do with them.

Burger joints toss billions of burgers a year (Mac Donald's alone serves about 2 billion), each individually wrapped in plastic coated paper and thrown into a paper bag with a few paper napkins. That's more than 100 per second, worldwide. Throw in a dozen other fast food conglomerates and weíre up to our necks in greasy garbage. Whatís worse is that most of this paper makes its way into a trash can after only about 5 minutes of use.